Consumer Confidence Dipped Again This Month

Consumers, who drive the economy because they purchase about 70 percent of all goods and services, are less optimistic again this month about how things are going.

The private Conference Board just reported that its consumer confidence index fell 3.2 points in June from May, to 58.5.

Lynn Franco, director of the board's Consumer Research Center, says in a statement issued with the report that consumers are feeling down about job prospects and the likelihood that their incomes will be growing at a healthy pace anytime soon.

And, she says, "given the combination of uneasiness about the economic outlook and future earnings, consumers are likely to continue weighing their spending decisions quite carefully."

Translation: consumer spending may not be rising much in coming weeks and months.

As The Associated Press points out, the June reading follows "an almost six-point drop from May to April, which had marked a six-month low. [And] a reading of 90 indicates a healthy economy on the index, which measures how Americans feel about business conditions, the job market and the next six months."

Reuters begins its report with this: "Consumer confidence fell in June to the lowest point since November 2010 on concerns about the slack labor market and sputtering recovery."